NYC Letter: More Awesome Change! IV

UPDATE: This didn't take long.

OBAMA TO ISSUE ORDER TO CLOSE GUANTÁNAMO
IN FIRST WEEK AS PRESIDENT

WASHINGTON January 12, 2009 (Guardian) - President-elect Barack Obama is to issue an order to close the Guantánamo detention centre in his first week in office, according to his advisers.

Obama, who takes over the presidency next Tuesday, will make closure one of his first decisions, two of his advisers told the AP news agency.

The pledge comes only the day after Obama appeared to row back from campaign promises by saying closure was more complicated than he had realised and it would be a challenge to do so in his first 100 days in office.

Don't put those placards and petitions aside yet. This executive order may technically honor his pledge, but it won't close the camp or end a single detention one day sooner than Mr. Obama indicated in his Sunday interview. If you are mindlessly committed to closing Guantánamo this very minute -- or the very minute following Mr. Obama's swearing in -- best break out the Crayolas and make a big sign demanding some giddy-up in Mr. Obama's get-along.

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Countdown 11,189 minutes to awesome change

First, the shinola.

While we're at it, we're going to close Guantanamo. And we're going to restore habeas corpus. ... We're going to lead by example, by not just word but by deed. That's our vision for the future.

Mr. Obama,
then-candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination,
wand-waving Gitmo away just like [SNAP!] that
SAN ANTONIO June 24, 2007 (WaPo)

EASY-PEEZY
[Picture source: Amnesty International]

As President, I will close Guantanamo, reject the Military Commissions Act, and adhere to the Geneva Conventions. Our Constitution and our Uniform Code of Military Justice provide a framework for dealing with the terrorists.

Mr. Obama,
speechifying at the Woodrow Wilson
International Center for Scholars
August 1, 2007 (americanrhetoric.com)*

ACLU CALLS ON OBAMA TO CLOSE GUANTÁNAMO
ON DAY ONE OF PRESIDENCY
PRESS RELEASE November 10, 2008 (ACLU)

GUANTANAMO CLOSURE CALLED OBAMA PRIORITY
November 12, 2008 (WaPo)

OBAMA 'WILL CLOSE GUANTANAMO BAY'

WASHINGTON November 17, 2008 (Independent) - In his first major interview since polling day, President-elect Barack Obama said last night that upon taking office he would close Guantanamo Bay and ban torture by the American military.

Dulling reality sets in, ruins the shine.

FOUR REASONS OBAMA WON'T CLOSE
THE CONTROVERSIAL PRISON SOON
November 7, 2008 (Newsweek)

OBAMA TEAM PONDERS WHAT TO DO
WITH GUANTANAMO INMATES
WASHINGTON November 10, 2008 (CNN)

BARACK OBAMA WILL FIND CLOSING GUANTANAMO
IS EASIER SAID THAN DONE
LONDON November 17, 2008 (Telegraph)

FEW AMERICANS WOULD CLOSE GUANTANAMO

November 28, 2008 (Angus Reid) - Few adults in the United States want their president-elect to shut down a notorious detention facility, according to a poll by the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. Only 29 per cent of respondents believe Barack Obama should close the Guantanamo Bay prison. [Forty-four percent said NO; 27% NOT SURE.]

THE GUANTÁNAMO DILEMMA
What To Do With Khalid Sheikh Mohammed And Others?

December 9, 2008 (Economist) - Barack Obama has repeatedly said that, once president, he will move swiftly to close America’s infamous detention camp for suspected terrorists at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba and abolish the special military commissions set up to try them. ... But he is likely to come up against exactly the same problems as his predecessor, who also claimed that he wanted to close Guantánamo.

PRESIDENT-ELECT BARACK OBAMA:
SET A DATE TO CLOSE GUANTÁNAMO
January 9, 2009 (AI)

HEY! WHERE'S THE CHOPE?
How? When? Details.
[Picture source: Amnesty International]

Now all the luster falls away, leaving the shineless shite.

CLOSING GUANTANAMO WILL HAVE TO WAIT
January 11, 2009 (NYT)

OBAMA: GITMO LIKELY WON'T CLOSE
IN FIRST 100 DAYS
WASHINGTON January 11, 2009 (ABC News)

STEPHANOPOULOS: You also agreed [with Mr. McCain] on Guantanamo when you say you want to shut it down. You say you're still going to shut it down. Is it turning out to be harder than you expected, will you get that done in the first 100 days?

OBAMA: It is more difficult than I think a lot of people realize and we are going to get it done but part of the challenge that you have is that you have a bunch of folks that have been detained, many of whom who may be very dangerous who have not been put on trial or have not gone through some adjudication. And some of the evidence against them may be tainted even though it's true. And so how to balance creating a process that adheres to rule of law, habeas corpus, basic principles of Anglo American legal system, by doing it in a way that doesn't result in releasing people who are intent on blowing us up.

STEPHANOPOULOS: So not necessarily first 100 days.

OBAMA: That's a challenge.

Mr. Obama,
president-elect,
gripped by the realities brushed aside in his campaign
INTERVIEW January 11, 2009 (ABC News)

Mr. Obama today distances himself from his campaign wish-aways, his easy-peezy justice, and easier CHOPE. Not that the difficulties weren't known during his campaign. But he had the foresight of never explaining -- the greater foresight of never presenting -- a practical plan for closure.

CHOPE.

It's not change. It's not hope. But it's coming to Washington.

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* American Rhetoric does a good job transcribing the speech but incorrectly gives the year of the address as 2006. The date shown above is correct.

Posted by Damian at January 12, 2009 05:30 PM